


Woman Down

by TVgirll1971



Category: Whiskey Cavalier (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:07:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22153003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TVgirll1971/pseuds/TVgirll1971
Summary: When a mission ends tragically, Susan finds herself unable to cope. Fortunately, Ray is there to take care of her.
Relationships: Ray Prince/Susan Sampson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Woman Down

**Author's Note:**

> Last May, David Hemingson tweeted "Susan takes care of everyone. Who takes care of Susan?" I'm sure he had something in mind but, sadly, we'll never know what it was. However, I was intrigued by his question and came up with this story.
> 
> This story takes place early Season 2.

It should have been a simple mission. A US diplomat’s fifteen year old daughter had been recruited by a terrorist cell in Syria. It should’ve been easy for Susan to get through to her. The girl was obviously unhappy with her life overseas and was rebelling against not only her father, but the government as well. All they had to do was infiltrate the cell and get the girl out. The girl was a runaway, so they had the authority to get her. Susan was under no illusion that the girl was just going to automatically go with them. She knew the girl would struggle, but Susan was sure she could appeal to her and get her out of there so she could get the help she needed.

Unfortunately, Susan’s profile was incorrect. She expected the girl to argue, but eventually go, begrudgingly, with the team. After all, the girl was alone. Most of the cell was on a wild goose chase thanks to Standish’s fake satellite feed and the rest had been taken out by Will and Frankie. That left Susan to convince the girl to go with them. Tragically, instead of arguing, the girl panicked. Screaming she die'd rather than go back, she grabbed a knife off the ground. Susan tried to talk her down, but tragically, the girl slit her own throat. 

Susan barely remembered anything after that, apart from her screaming and falling to the ground in anguish. She vaguely remembered Will giving orders and Frankie touching her shoulders and gently leading her to their vehicle. They probably tried talking to her but Susan didn’t hear it. She couldn’t hear anything. All she could focus on was the memory of that fifteen year old girl—FIFTEEEN!--bleeding out right in front of her. 

Somehow they got to the Hive where Standish and Jai attempted to console her. Apparently, Frankie or Will, probably Will, must have told them what happened. They must’ve told them how hard she’d taken it too, or maybe one of them asked, she couldn’t remember. She did remember Jai giving her a small hug while he told her how very sorry he was. That was a pretty big step for Jai, but truthfully, it barely registered with Susan. All she could do was tell them she was fine and walk away. 

On the flight back to New York, Susan worked on the end-mission report. Will told her he and Frankie would handle it, but Susan refused. It was her job. She was running point. She created the profile and it was her job to report what went wrong. All she wanted was to be left alone, but no, Will had to sit next to her and play armchair psychologist. Telling her over and over again that it wasn’t her fault, that she had no way of knowing. When he started telling her that she needed to talk through feelings, she decided she’d had enough and told him to shut up, she was fine and wanted to take a nap.

As usual, the team returned to the Dead Drop. Susan remembered Standish asking where Ray was and Will answering that he had a meeting he had to go to. He whispered something to Standish and Jai and a wave of anger welled up in Susan. Why the hell was Will whispering? It’s obvious what this meeting was. Ray was meeting with Director Casey and probably someone from State to determine what exactly went wrong on this mission. Why a US Diplomat’s daughter was dead. 

Suddenly, Will was next to her at the bar, talking to her. Telling her that he knew how she felt, that she shouldn’t beat herself up, that she was one of the best profilers out there and there was no way she could’ve known what was going to happen. He started telling her all the things that she’d told other agents when things had gone sideways. But instead of comforting her, it was making her angry. HE was telling HER how to handle things? The man who had to be coached on how to deal with a breakup was telling her how to deal with this? Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. 

“Will you shut up the hell up, already!!?” She yelled. She stood up and turned to him. “I messed up, okay?! A fifteen year old girl is dead because of me and your STUPID empty platitudes aren’t going to change that!!” 

“Susan.” Will began.

Incensed, she screamed “I SAID, SHUT THE HELL UP!!” as she grabbed her glass and threw it across the room. 

As the team stood there in shock, Susan marched toward the door to leave.

Suddenly, Frankie was right in front of her. “Susan, no. You’re in no ….”

“Frankie, get out of my way or I’ll flatten you.” Susan replied through clenched teeth.

If she was thinking logically, Susan would’ve realized that she couldn’t beat Frankie in a fight. Fortunately, Frankie wasn’t about to take down her best friend in front of everyone and said in a soft, but stern voice. “Susan, you’re way too upset to be driving. You want to go home, I’ll take you but you aren’t getting behind the wheel.”

“Fine.” Susan said as she tossed Frankie her car keys and left in a huff.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 

Susan was not happy to see who was standing at her door when she and Frankie got there.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Susan asked accusingly.

“Will called me.” Ray answered. “He said you were pretty upset and didn’t think you should be alone.”

“Oh, so he thought a booty call would help?” Susan remarked.

”That’s not why I’m here.” he replied. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.” 

“You want to babysit me? Fine.” Susan said as she stormed inside and went right to bed. As she was walking, she thought she heard Frankie offer to stick around instead.

“No, I’ll stay.” she heard Ray reply.

That night, Susan woke up screaming. A mission went haywire, she made a mistake and suddenly the team was dead all around her. Their bodies mangled, covered in blood. Blood everywhere…

“Susan! Susan! Wake up! Come on, wake up. You’re dreaming! Come on.” she heard a voice say.

Susan opened her eyes and saw Ray sitting on the bed.

“The team’s gone. They’re gone. Oh, my God. There’s blood…” Susan cried out, barely able to breathe.

Ray moved to sit on the pillow, draped his arm over her and said in a soothing voice.. “Susan. Susan, look at me. Look at me. It was just a dream, the team’s fine. Everyone’s okay. It’s just a dream.”

Calming down once she realized that she was, fact, in bed and not on a mission, Susan wrapped her arms around Ray as if hanging on for dear life and cried herself to sleep while he assured her everything was going to be okay. 

The next day she heard a voice “Hey, sleepy head. It’s time to wake up.”

Susan opened her eyes. “Ray? What are you still doing here?”

“I made you breakfast. Well, almost lunch now.” he replied, putting a breakfast tray right in front of her.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Susan. You haven’t had anything in over 24 hours. You need to eat something.”

Susan begrudgingly took a bite of the omelet in front of her. “Wow. Where’d you get this?”

“I made it.”

“Yeah, right.” She said derisively.

“I did. You like it?”

“It’s alright.” She replied as she took another bit of the most amazing veggie omelet she ever had. 

After breakfast, Susan laid back in bed. She expected Ray to leave but as the hours wore on, she could hear him puttering around. At one point, he came in and announced that Will was there.

“I don’t want to talk to him.” Susan replied, not even bothering to look at Ray.

“You sure? He really wants to talk.”

“I said no!” she replied more forcefully. Ray left the room and Susan could hear him arguing with Will.

“She doesn’t want to see you, Will. What am I supposed to do?...No. I can’t just make her talk…” 

Susan groaned. Make her talk? Was Will serious? How can someone so in tuned with people's feelings be so ignorant of basic psychology while someone like Ray knows exactly what to do?

Several hours later, Susan heard Ray’s voice at her door again.

"Knock knock."

"What is it, Ray?" she said not even bothering to turn and look at him.

"Dinnertime. Come on, you gotta eat."

Susan begrudging sat up and was shocked at what was on her plate. "What's? Is this?"

"Spanish smoky lamb and pepper stew. I remember you mentioned it was one of your favorite foods growing up so I looked up the recipe on-line and gave it go. I'm sure it's not as good as your mom's, but it's comfort food."

Susan tasted the stew. No, it wasn’t like her Mom's but, hell, it was good. "You made this?"

"Yeah, I had to call Standish to pick up some ingredients for me, but yeah."

Susan thought she heard Standish's voice asking how she was. Susan considered the possibility that Ray was lying--that he had Standish bring in takeout but then remembered the smells earlier. "I thought I smelled lamb cooking." she said. "Thank you." she said, looking at Ray.

"You're welcome." Ray said with a smile. "I'll be cleaning up the kitchen. You need anything, give me a holler."

The next day was the same story. She stayed in bed and Ray served her home cooked meals. Like the day before, she heard him on the phone. Sometimes with Will, sometimes with Frankie “She doesn’t want to get up. Frankie, I can’t just drag her out of bed.” Standish even called to offer to bring some comedies to cheer her up. "Probably that TV show he likes "Everyone Hates Chris." she thought but Ray told Standish she didn't seem interested in watching TV.

The next day, after two full days in bed, Susan decided to get up and went to the kitchen.

"Hey, look who's up?" Ray said smiling. "I was about to make a Spanish omelet. Interested?"

Susan shook her head. "No. Maybe just some scrambled eggs."

"Coming right up." Ray said.

Eating her eggs, Susan spoke up. ""You know, Ray. You don't have to stay with me anymore. I'm sure they need you at the office."

Ray shrugged. "No big deal. I have vacation days."

"You're using your vacation days to babysit me? Well, that's pathetic." She said, looking down at the table.

Ray touched Susan’s arm, which caused her to look up at him. "Hey. I care about you. I want to make sure you're okay.'

Susan grunted and then noticed something "Hey, you're wearing different clothes. But I didn't hear you leave?"

"I had Will go to my place and bring some of my stuff last night. You were asleep, I guess." Ray looked down briefly and then continued, “You know, Will feels really bad about what happened. He wanted to come today to talk."

"No!" Susan said, slamming her hand against the countertop. "I don't want to talk. I know what he's going to say--I've said it to people myself--I just don't want to hear it." She got up. "I'm going to go take a bath."

After her bath, Susan was tempted to go back into bed but the sound of typing stopped her. Curious, she stepped into the living room and saw Ray typing on a laptop.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Ray looked up surprised. "Oh, I had Will bring my laptop too. Figured maybe I'll get some work done."

Susan sat on the couch and just watched him work. He looked so serious. His brow furrowed in thought as he focused on his computer screen. She watched him stop typing in order to write something down on a note pad. She realized she'd never watched him work before. She'd seen him in the field, yes, but she never envisioned him doing paperwork. Yes, she knew he had an office but she never knew what he did there. Looking at him, she thought, not for the first time, there was more to him than met the eye.

"What are you working on?" she finally asked.

Not looking up, he began. "Oh, just some information about the cell that…." At that point, he looked up. Seeing Susan's pained expression, he began to falter, "Uh, well, the Director wanted some clarification about the, uh,"

"About how I messed up."

"No." Ray said with a confused look on his face. "He wants to send another team to dismantle the cell once and for all. I was just trying to get the details together."

Susan nodded and looked down.

"Susan, I..." Ray began.

"Don't say you know how I feel." she warned.

"I'm not because I don't. I mean, not entirely. But, I do know what it's like to make mistakes." He chuckled, humorlessly. "I've made huge ones, believe me. I mean even Ollerman said he kept me around because I was a screw up. But it's like Will says, you know, you could either wallow in your mistakes or learn from them."

Susan stared at Ray. "It's true, Will does say that. Why is it more annoying coming from him than you?"

Ray shrugged. "Delivery, I guess."

Susan smiled for the first time in days. It was the delivery. Hearing advice from Will was like having her own words parroted back at her. But with Ray--it was easier to take.

She stood up. "I think I’m going to go to my room. Do some light reading."

"Okay. Oh, hey, I have something special for dinner tonight. It’s uh, “ he paused to look at a sheet of paper, sounding the unfamiliar words out carefully, “Poll-o al Aji-llo. Basically garlic chicken. I found the recipe in your kitchen. I remembered you saying something about pollo so I had Will translate. ”

Susan looked at Ray in amazement. First the lamb stew, then last night’s (amazing) paella, now he was going to make her abuella’s recipe? “Thanks, Ray.” she said, smiling again.

"No problem." he said, warmly.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

That night, Susan woke up from another bad dream. It wasn’t bad enough to make her scream like before, but it definitely spooked her. She got out of bed and went to the living room where she saw Ray sprawled out on the couch. He looked so peaceful—like an angel. Her own personal guardian angel. She sat down and kissed him, waking him up.

“Hey? What's up?” he asked, as he started to get up.

Susan put her hand on his chest. "Thank you. For helping me."

Ray relaxed. "No biggie. Nothing anyone else on the team couldn't have done."

Susan slapped him playfully on the arm. "Don't sell yourself short. No it wasn't. Will would've insisted on talking to me every hour, Frankie would've dragged me out of that bed kicking and screaming, Jai would've given up and left the first day and Standish, who knows? He probably would've come in with balloons and tried to force me to watch TV shows to cheer me up." She smiled at Ray. "You were just here. You were patient. You didn't pressure me, you waited me out and I needed that."

"So, I can tell everyone you're starting to feel better? Because you know, they keep calling."

Susan chuckled. "Yes. In fact, maybe you should go in to work tomorrow. You probably have stuff stacked up on your desk. Besides…” She paused briefly. “I should go too so I can talk to someone about what’s going on.”

“Sounds like a plan.” 

Remembering something, Susan groaned and buried her head in her hands, “Oh, and I really need to apologize to Will. And Frankie. The whole team really. I totally lost it the last time I was at the Dead Drop. I was horrible” 

Ray put his hand over hers. “Hey. They understand. They just want you to be okay.”

Susan smiled, thanked Ray and got up to go back to bed. Suddenly, she turned around, “You know, sleeping on that couch can’t be good for your back. Do you want to come in the bed with me? I wouldn’t mind the company.”

Ray agreed and Susan fell asleep cuddled up, safe, in his arms.


End file.
